Denver’s esteemed handicapped theater company is getting plenty of high-profile exposure throughout Democratic National Convention week, as well as from company member Lucy Roucis‘ recent groundbreaking brain surgery for Parkinson’s disease.

Members of the Physically Handicapped Actors & Musical Artists League sang “The Star Spangled Banner” on Saturday for the convention’s media welcoming party at Elitch’s. Amber Marsh, Linda Wirth, Regan Linton and Don Mauck performed an a capella version arranged by Donna Debreceni before 15,000 visiting journalists. Sandwiched between, ho hum, Mayor John Hickenlooper and Gov. Bill Ritter.

Longtime stage manager and recent Harvard grad Charlie Miller, just 22, is also mounting the musical “Show Up for Democracy,” PHAMALy’s first educational-outreach production, throughout the week at various public and private events. The metaphorical musical, written by Denver’s Mimi Stokes Katzenbach and Ben Green, is about a theater company trying to figure out how to incorporate a new member.

“I thought it was a great opportunity for PHAMALy to create a new piece of theater that really inspires people, is nonpartisan and gets a positive political message out there about being civically engaged,” Miller said.

And how does the musical, starring Leonard Barrett, pertain to the disabled community? “When it seems like everything is going to fall apart, they figure out the key to working together as an ensemble is what we call ‘showing up as yourself,’ ” Miller said. ‘That means being completely honest and genuine about your own life experiences, and turning your disabilities into abilities.”

“Show Up for Democracy” will be publicly performed for free at 1 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 24, at Civic Center as part of the “Denver 2008 Marketplace,” and at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 27, at the Air Forest in City Park (west of the Denver Museum of Nature & Science). That’s part of the “Dialog:City” events. There will also be various private convention performances before a statewide schools tour begins in September.

Video of PHAMALy performing the Star Spangled Banner’

Here’s the video of Denver’s physically handicapped theater company PHAMALy performing an a capella version of the Star Spangled Banner before thousands of visiting media on Saturday at a Democratic National Convention kick-off party.

Lucy Roucis surgery update

Roucis’ July 28 deep-brain stimulation surgery in Cleveland has caught the attention of the national media. The invasive, seven-hour procedure was the equivalent of implanting a pacemaker for her brain.

The surgery is expected to reduce 80 percent of the symptoms from 22 years of Parkinson’s disease and her subsequent need for medication. For Roucis, it’s a new lease on life. But the surgery, during which she stayed awake, was harrowing.

“The staff did such a great job, but the last thing you want is 12 people in an operating room looking into your brain — and no one is smiling,” Roucis said with a laugh. “I said, ‘What’s wrong?’ and the doctor just said, ‘You have very bad Parkinson’s disease.’ ”

The left side of her brain “had a bunch of holes in it, and so it had basically reconfigured itself,” she said.

What got her through were repeated playings of Crosby Stills, Nash & Young’s “Carry On,” and the spiritual presence of her daddy, who died almost two years to the day before. “I could hear him saying, ‘Toughen up,’ ” Roucis said.

Roucis says she “looks really funny,” with drill holes and bald patches on her head. But she’s healing fast, and her symptoms have subsided dramatically.

On Monday, Roucis will be back in Cleveland for the first of eight months of precision tuning of the electrodes planted in her brain.

On Friday, she celebrated turning 49 by attending “The Dark Knight.” She hasn’t been able to sit through a movie in two years because of her body’s violent, involuntary tremors.

“There’s this big word, and it’s called hope,” Roucis said. “And it’s finally a word I can look forward to using.”

Briefly . . .

Executive director Rich Harris has left the Town Hall Arts Center in Littleton to accept the same position at Boulder’s Dairy Center for the Arts. “Town Hall is on a roll,” Harris said. “We’ve had four record-setting years in a row and the fifth year is a near certainty.” . . .

University of Northern Colorado graduate Jenny Fellner has been cast as Linda English in the Broadway revival of “Pal Joey,” opening Dec. 11 at Studio 54. It stars Stockard Channing and Martha Plimpton. …

Earlier this week, the Denver Center Theatre Company added Jose Cruz González’s new comedy, “Sunsets and Margaritas,” to its 30th season (opening April 3). That means the DCTC again will present three world premieres next season (“Inana,” “Dusty and the Big Bad World”). . .

And finally, it’s not uncommon for real married couples to perform together, but Paragon’s “The Glass Menagerie,” opening Oct. 18, will have a twist. Spouses Michael Stricker and Barbra Andrews will be playing brother and sister, Tom and Laura.

“The Eyes of Babylon” A U.S. Marine tells how he used the military’s ban on gays as a way out from the war in Iraq he came to believe was morally corrupt. Through Sept. 14. At the New Denver Civic Theatre, 721 Santa Fe Drive, 303-777-3292 or go to theatre group’s home pageand here’s our interview with jeff key

“Forever Plaid” A 1950s all-male singing group killed in a car crash gets one more shot at stardom. Through Jan. 4. Nonesuch Theatre, 216 Pine St., Fort Collins, 970-224-0444 or go to nonesuch’s home page

“Home Away From” An aging screenwriter and an aspiring actress rent rooms in a Los Angeles house where the boundaries between race, politics, Hollywood and reality blur. Through Sept. 27. Brooks Center Arts, 1400 Williams St.

“Honky Tonk Laundry” In this musical tribute to Nashville, two country girls join forces and turn their laundromat into a boot-scooting- boogie honky-tonk. Through Sept. 7. Lake Dillon Theatre Company, 176 Lake Dillon Drive, 970-513-9386 or go to lake dillon’s home page

“Manhattan’s Last Fight” A Kansas boxer turns his back on his promising career to reclaim his childhood sweetheart, Skinny. A new comedy by Denver’s Jonson Kuhn. Through Sept. 7. Crossroads Theatre, 2590 Washington St., 303-832-0929 or go to crossroads’ home page. To read a 12-page script sample, click here

This week, Denver Post theater critic John Moore talks with young
Charlie Miller, who recently graduated from Harvard and has come home to originate and stage “Show up for Democracy,” the first educational outreach production ever presented by the handicapped theater company known as PHAMALy. It is an original, nonpartisan one-act musical just in time for the Democratic National Convention here in Denver. For information, call 303-575-0005. Recorded Aug. 20, 2008. Run time: 19 minutes.

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